An Overview of Key Account Management

For businesses that place customer success as a priority, then great key account management is essential. It’s not a practice that’s set in stone, but rather one that shifts as trends and changes in customer expectations evolve. New strategies and approaches to account management can help you understand what works for your key accounts and what doesn’t.

As such, no single blog can teach you everything you need to know about key account management. However, there are resources, trainers, coaches, and consultants that can help you build the know-how you need to create your own KAM processes that work best for your own customers’ needs.

Where can I get training and coaching on key account management?

If you’re starting from scratch, then finding courses that can help you better understand the fundamentals of key account management is vital. For that purpose, training courses might be the best place to look. For a crash course, the HubSpot blog has a comprehensive “Ultimate Guide” that covers all of your bases, but those looking for a more in-depth breakdown of the terms and techniques most commonly used in CAM can find a more detailed program on Udemy.

Who are the best key account management trainers?

Some account managers and business owners learn better with a guiding hand, rather than through self-directed learning. For those people, trainers can offer the personal attention and guidance that you might need. Training firms like The Brooks Group and Rain Sales Training lend a more personal, individualized approach to learning both the basics of key account management as well as how to create a full KAM strategy for your business.

Who are the best key account management consulting firms?

For those with an existing account management system, then there’s constant improvement to be made. If you’re looking for increased levels of customer success, consultants can help take a look at your processes and help you highlight what you’re doing right and where you need to improve. Janice Mars and Jermaine Edwards are two names worth looking up, offering both personalized consultation services as well as blogs worth following.

What key account management resources should I follow?

As part of that constant improvement, there are blogs and resources that any key accounts manager should use to constantly look at their processes and see where improvements can be found. These include the following:

Sales Mastery

SalesLatitude

Account Manager Tips

CSO Insights

Kapta

Account Management Skills

If self-directed learning isn’t your preferred method, then hiring a KAM consultant or consulting firm may be better than following a blog. Many of the top key account management resources are written by active and working consultants, so it’s worth checking out their website anyway to see a demonstration of the knowledge they can lend to your cause.

A good key account management system has to be built with an understanding of what customer success looks like for your business alone, not just by learning from example. Hopefully, the resources above help you build the understand and insight you need into account management to find the answer that works for you and your customers.